What are utilities doing for arc flash protection the utility I work for are finally changing our safety manual to 8 cal for 1000volts and under and if the service is 480 self contained meter than you have the meter dept open can with a 20 cal suite but revenue meters are auto ranging so the tell us to rely on labels that indicate 480 BUT I found many services not labelled and are 480 does this sound ok or are they cheapen out and should buy everyone a suite and not rely on sticker on the outside of a meter can?
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Utility and arc flash
- Thread starter newt
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wbdvt
Senior Member
- Location
- Rutland, VT, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer, PE
OSHA has issued new requirements for utilities on April 1, 2014. These are the 1910.269 and 1926.960 regulations that require utilities to perform an arc flash assessment to make a reasonable estimate of the incident energy by Jan 1, 2015 and provide the necessary PPE for that incident energy by April 1, 2015. I would assume your utility has done that or is in the process of performing that assessment.
OSHA does not require labels and in fact is against labels for arc flash. OSHA stated in the preamble that the employer can effectively provide information on arc hazards and PPE in other ways. They believe these other ways are likely to be more effective than warning labels since they inform the employee of the hazards before arriving at the jobsite.
The NESC 2012 edition in Table 410-1 lists 20 cal/cm^2 for 480V self contained meters. I guess if there is any doubt whether it is 480V or not, I would err on the side of safety and suit up appropriately.
OSHA does not require labels and in fact is against labels for arc flash. OSHA stated in the preamble that the employer can effectively provide information on arc hazards and PPE in other ways. They believe these other ways are likely to be more effective than warning labels since they inform the employee of the hazards before arriving at the jobsite.
The NESC 2012 edition in Table 410-1 lists 20 cal/cm^2 for 480V self contained meters. I guess if there is any doubt whether it is 480V or not, I would err on the side of safety and suit up appropriately.
wtucker
Senior Member
- Location
- Connecticut
Personally, I don't trust labels. I've seen too many that were wrong the day they were installed, and too many that were wrong because things changed, but the one-line (if there was one) and labels weren't updated. I just had a big to-do with a facility that wanted our guys to work live because they had no one-line and knew that panel schedules hadn't been updated after previous work was done, so they had no idea what the panel fed.
meternerd
Senior Member
- Location
- Athol, ID
- Occupation
- retired water & electric utility electrician, meter/relay tech
Our utility has been using a standard chart that lists various jobs at various voltages to show requirements for PPE. I'm not sure what the document is, but the only jobs requiring Class 3 acrflash PPE is removing a bolted cover from energized 480V panel and pulling an MCC bucket in an energized switchgear. But...while I was working there (now retired) the meter techs were required to wear Class 3 (40 cal suit and 20KV gloves with protectors) when pulling 480 meters and FR shirts, face shields and secondary gloves when pulling lower voltages. Same for installing test bypass jumpers. If in a CT compartment installing test equipment, same rule. I asked for studies, but it never was done. They may have done arc flash studies since I left, but I doubt it. All of the multi-voltage solid state meters I have seen show the voltage on the display, but I put orange stickers on the 277/480 and 480 3W meters anyway just to be sure we knew what we were getting into. In my humble opinion, pulling energized meters is a VERY dangerous job, because you never know what's happening behind the meter. Loose jaws, missing cover screws, etc. can cause mucho fire. Ask me how I know!
meternerd
Senior Member
- Location
- Athol, ID
- Occupation
- retired water & electric utility electrician, meter/relay tech
Why dont utilities follow the NESC and do not bother with a company safety manual
Most utilities I worked for do follow NESC, NFPA and other codes, but may have local regs (such as CalOSHA) that can differ from those. Many times the generic safety manuals are too general or have sections that are not applicable. Individual company safety manuals are at least as restrictive as the NESC or NFPA, but often exceed them. Up to each company, as long as they meet minimum standards. I like it that way, because the employees have major input as to what is in the safety manual, so they take it seriously. After all, it's their safety that's at stake. We all want to get home at the end of the day.
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